US Stock Futures Up As Investors Await Trade, Jobless Claims Data

US stock futures are higher this morning, as investors are awaiting trade and jobless claims data. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 28 points to 12,058.00 and futures on the S&P 500 stock index rose 3.70 points to 1,280.70. Nasdaq 100 futures surged 5.00 points to 2,253.00. US stocks closed lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones industrial average dipping 0.18% to 12,048.94, the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index dropping 0.42% to 1,279.56 and the NASDAQ composite index declining 0.97% to 2,675.38. Data on April trade balance and weekly initial jobless claims will be released at 8:30 a.m. ET. Investors are awaiting interest-rate announcements from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank (ECB). The news conference of Trichet will start at 8:30 a.m. ET. Brown Forman Inc BF is projected to report its FQ4 EPS at $0.64 on revenue of $731.85 million. Titan Machinery Inc TITN is expected to report its Q1 EPS at $0.22 on revenue of $260.49 million. J.M. Smucker Company (The) SJM is projected to report its FQ4 EPS at $0.99 on revenue of $1.17 billion. Vail Resorts Inc MTN is estimated to report its FQ3 EPS at $2.14 on revenue of $412.63 million. National Semiconductor Corporation NSM is projected to report its FQ4 EPS at $0.27 on revenue of $365.14 million. Men's Wearhouse Inc MW reported a two-fold rise in its fiscal first-quarter profit. The company's profit surged to $27.4 million, or $0.52 per share, from $13.5 million, or $0.26 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Its sales climbed 23% to $580.4 million. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.49 per share on revenue of $577.28 million. Men's Wearhouse projects FY11 earnings between $2.04 and $2.12 per share, excluding charges. Pall Corp PLL reported its fiscal third-quarter profit at $71.1 million, or $0.60 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $69.7 million, or $0.58 per share. Its revenue surged to $709.8 million from $616 million. Pall's earnings, excluding one-time items, came in at $0.72 per share. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.71 per share on revenue of $668.9 million. Texas Instruments Inc TXN lowered its forecast for revenue and earnings in the second quarter. Texas Instruments now projects Q2 revenue between $3.36 billion and $3.5 billion, down from the earlier range of $3.41 billion to $3.69 billion. The company now projects earnings between $0.51 and $0.55 per share, down from the previous range of $0.52 to $0.60 per share. Asian markets ended mixed, with Japan's Nikkei Stock Average gaining 0.19%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 moving up 0.28% and China's Shanghai Composite declining 1.68%. Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index dropped 0.23% and India's Sensex declined 0.06%. European markets were higher today. The STOXX Europe 600 Index has gained 0.03%, London's FTSE 100 Index moved up 0.08%. Crude oil for July delivery surged $0.20 to $100.94 a barrel in electronic trading on Globex. Gold for August delivery fell $2.50 to $1,536.20 an ounce. The dollar index (DXY) traded at 73.815. Against the dollar, the euro rose 0.1% to $1.4613. Read more from Benzinga's Markets.